The Credit Busters guide

How long does
bad credit last?

Different listings stay on your credit file for different lengths of time. Here is the plain version for Australia, plus the one thing many people miss: if a listing should not be there, it can come off early.

On this page

How long each listing lasts

  • Defaults: 5 years from the date listed.
  • Credit enquiries: 5 years from the date of the enquiry.
  • Repayment history information: 2 years.
  • Court judgments and writs: 5 years from the date of the judgment.
  • Serious credit infringements (clearouts): 7 years.
  • Bankruptcy: 2 years from discharge or 5 years from the date you became bankrupt, whichever is later (and permanently on the insolvency index).

This trips a lot of people up. Paying a default or a judgment does not remove it and does not reset the time. The listing is usually just marked as paid and still sits there for its full period. Before you pay anything, it is worth checking whether the listing should have been there at all.

Removing bad credit early

You do not always have to wait out the five or seven years. If a listing was recorded incorrectly, or placed in breach of the credit reporting rules, it can be removed before its expiry date. That is what credit repair does: it challenges the listings that should not be there. Read the No Win, No Fee credit repair guide or how to remove a default.

How Credit Busters helps

The check is free and online. Credit Busters reviews your file, tells you straight which listings we believe can be removed, and works on them on a No Win, No Fee basis. You only pay a success fee if a listing is actually removed. Credit Busters operates under Australian Credit Licence 564856.

Frequently asked questions

Five years from the date it was listed, even after you pay it. Paying it changes the status to paid but does not remove the listing or reset the five years.
Five years from the date the enquiry was made, whether or not the application was approved.
Repayment history information stays for two years. It shows whether each monthly payment on a credit account was made on time.
A court judgment or writ stays for five years from the date of the judgment.
A bankruptcy stays on your credit file for either two years from the date you are discharged, or five years from the date you became bankrupt, whichever is later. It is also recorded permanently on the National Personal Insolvency Index.
Yes, if a listing should not be there. Listings that were recorded incorrectly or in breach of the rules can be removed before their expiry date. Credit Busters assesses your file and only takes on listings we genuinely believe we can remove, on a No Win, No Fee basis.

Don’t wait it out. Let Credit Busters bust it.

It’s free to check, it’s all online, and you pay nothing unless Credit Busters wins.

See if we can help

Find out if we can bust it.

It's free to check, it's all online, and you pay nothing unless we win.

See if we can help